She had a little notebook with her and scribbled all the way through her assault trial. Coleman said, "She (Amy) was so pretty and delicate and had these lovely little freckles. Late singer Amy Winehouse looks like she's auditioning for the Rockettes, but she is, in fact, showing the judge her tiny feet in a 2009 assault trial. When working, she prefers to sit in the courtroom and not in a media annex, where the cameras tend to concentrate on only who is speaking (and the images are often too fuzzy.) She does not draw in court-to do so would be illegal-but like other court artists, she takes notes in shorthand describing what she sees. Priscilla Coleman has been a court artist for ITN and newspapers in the UK for over 20 years. Sketch artists are not court-mandated or affiliated with any part of the legal system itself. However, they are still prohibited in some court districts, and only sketch artists are allowed where cameras and camcorders are strictly prohibited.
It was then that the first cameras (and some camcorders) were allowed to be used in a courtroom without restrictions. That worked for only a little while-many court districts viewed photographers as a major distraction inside the courtroom and banned them until the mid-1980s. Newsgroups used flash photography to cover every major story, which often included court cases. Trial sketches were the only reliable visual records of what went on in the courtroom, right up until the late 19th century.ĭuring the 1950s, the publication of news photos had reached an all-time high.
In the U.S., courtroom sketches date all the way back to the Salem witch trials (1692-1693). Although the practice is slowly going out of style in many court districts, courtroom sketch artists are still widely utilized around the world.